Updates from the Operations & Monitoring Committee meeting
Safety efforts to expand
Council’s community safety efforts are to be extended across the district, having focused to date on the CBD and nearby areas.
The number of Safe City Guardians and staff monitoring CCTV footage are to be increased as part of plans which will also see safety patrols and the CCTV network extended.
An update on progress with Council’s Community Safety Plan was presented to the Operations & Monitoring Committee today by Council staff and Rotorua Police Senior Sergeant Mike Membery.
Community safety is a key priority of Council’s 2021-2031 Long-term Plan (LTP) and in recent years, in partnership with Police and other key safety stakeholders, the council has continued to focus much of its safety efforts on providing response and support in the CBD area.
As part of the LTP, Council agreed to invest an additional $500,000 per year towards community safety.
Currently, extended daylight hours have seen more people out and about in Rotorua and this has also increased opportunities for anti-social and criminal behaviour and seen rough sleepers back on the streets and in camp sites on reserves. Assistance and information is offered to rough sleepers, the Committee was told.
Police say the centralisation of emergency and transitional housing has not disproportionately increased demands on police.
A draft Community Safety Plan was approved by Council in March and includes increasing patrols in suburban areas and working with other organisations such as Neighbourhood Support and Maori Wardens.
Other actions in the draft plan include:
- Increasing the mobility of Council’s City Guardians team, supplemented by contract security at peak times;
- Connecting City Guardians with police, private security and Maori Wardens;
- Extending CCTV network to extend coverage across entire CBD and Fenton Street;
- Assessment of public spaces of concern and addressing these through CPTED (crime prevention through environmental design);
- Addressing identified issues with rapid intervention;
- Linkage with external stakeholders to assist in reducing alcohol-related and drug harm in the community.
While the CBD remains an important ‘neighbourhood’ in terms of community safety, the Plan seeks to widen efforts across the district.
Council staff continue to work in close partnership with the Rotorua Police and other key safety stakeholders on a daily basis through activities such as (but not limited to):
- vehicle and foot (community) patrols;
- the joint annual Summer Safety Campaign;
- CCTV monitoring, footage review and phased network expansion to provide commercial and public property protection;
- public education;
- welfare assistance associated with the Covid-19 response.
Council staff are also continuing to improve data collection and analysis with the aim of moving into a more ‘prevention’ based approach. Other actions, aimed at achieving the objectives of the Community Safety Plan, that are also underway include:
- Recruitment of six additional Safe City Guardians (patrollers) to raise the total number to 10, replacing security contractors by early next year, enabling Council to continue to provide effective and efficient patrol services while also reducing costs.
- Recruit additional two CCTV monitoring staff are also being recruited to increase the total number to four. This will provide more consistency in service and flexibility around monitoring hours.
- The above also provides an opportunity to utilise Council staff resources more efficiently in outer areas such as reserves and also to revisit the current look/branding to ensure that the public are able to quickly identify the patrol teams and any other Council safety related activities/functions.
- Patrol vehicles will also soon be operated by Council using Council staff and will continue to reach out further than the CBD into residential areas and reserves to provide additional deterrence and detection value.
- Initiatives to strengthen relationships and connections with Maori Wardens, Neighbourhood Support and Community Patrol Groups are now underway.
- We continue to reassess how Council collectively approaches lower level crime that negatively impacts perceptions (e.g. graffiti) to help ensure a quicker response and encourage reporting.
- Work is underway to select a handful of priority locations for additional CCTV cameras to be installed in public spaces. This follows feedback and intel from the CCTV camera operators and Police and incorporate some changes in public spaces resulting from the Covid-19 response. These sites will be able to be confirmed shortly.
- A process to determine priorities in relation to requests for cameras from the public is being developed.
Council's mobile CCTV trailer will be out around the District over Summer to provide a further tool to address concerns, act as a deterrent and provide further information to Council and the Police.
Subject to available funding, the camera network will continue to expand in a measured fashion taking into account any emerging priority areas and the objective to add value and increase safety and perceptions of safety across the wider District in due course.
General locations have been selected across the city for expanding Council’s CCTV network, having been identified in collaboration with the police. Key locations (in no order of priority) are Fenton Street, Ngongotaha, Pukehangi/Fordlands, Otonga/Springfield, Lake Road, Owhata/Holdens Bay, Ranolf, Te Koutu/Kawaha Point, and the CBD.
Locations were chosen for different reasons including providing better visibility of traffic and pedestrians, protecting assets and investments, deterring anti-social and criminal behaviour, increasing perceptions of safety, supporting businesses, supporting council bylaw enforcement and supporting police.
Additional cameras in the Fenton Street area should be operating in the near future and it is hoped cameras planned for Okareka will be active in time for the summer season, along with cameras to replace current temporary cameras at Te Pūtake o Tawa. Cameras will be installed in other locations over time with some potential time delays anticipated due to COVID-related issues with availability of hardware, the Committee was told.Council patrols and CCTV have shifted into a ‘Summer Roster’ which will mean patrols and monitoring are focused more intently around the hours of busiest public activity. Data and observations are continually reviewed and assists in work programming.
The report on this matter is on p11 of the meeting agenda.
The presentation slides relating to this matter can be found HERE on Council’s website.
Today’s meeting was livestreamed and you can go directly to this part of the meeting via THIS LINK on the recording of the meeting.
Financial update
Overall for the financial year to date, Council’s financial operating performance is tracking favourably against budget and Council has invested $14m to date this financial year in key capital projects.
A breakdown is included in the financial report for the three months to the end of September which was on the agenda for today’s Operations & Monitoring Committee.
Capital spending to date this financial year is spread across a variety of projects that are progressing including stormwater improvements at various locations, transport improvements across various locations including Kaingaroa CIP-funded works, Council’s integrated software system upgrade, the Sir Howard Morrison Performing Arts Centre, lakefront development and Aquatic Centre upgrades, with the remainder spread across numerous smaller capital programmes.
Total revenue is tracking slightly unfavourably, largely driven by reduced fees and charges caused by varying COVID alert levels impacting, in particular, parking revenue and lease rental income with markets and events having to be cancelled. The pressure on fees and charges is expected to continue and rolling financial forecasts are in place to identify and mitigate the full year impact.
Rates revenue continues to track marginally ahead of budget and subsidies and grants (from external funders such as Central Government) are favourable.
Total expenditure is tracking favourably overall, with some variances, the financial report to the Committee says. Council’s ongoing focus on delivering against strategic priorities is expected to put increased pressure on operational expenditure. Council continues to work collaboratively with government and private agencies to ensure ongoing flexibility to respond to any new, unforeseen events.
Meanwhile, Council is working with CCO (Council-controlled Organisation) InfraCore on a debt reduction drive, effectively resulting in a debt transfer from InfraCore to Council. InfraCore’s historical outstanding loan with Council is $2.8million and an agreement was reached to forgive $1 of debt for every $1 debt repayment made up to, and including, 30 June 2022.
InfraCore was set up in July 2015 with approximately $1.5m in debt, increasing to $2.8m during the early years of the company operating but has been producing good financial results since 2019, Council’s DCE Organisation Enablement Thomas Collé told the Committee in his financial update.
He said a Business Optimisation Programme initiated by InfraCore has seen the company generating operating surpluses and cash reserves and focused on repaying debt.
To support InfraCore’s transition for the future and enable it to get debt down to a more sustainable level, Rotorua Lakes Council has agreed to match the CCO’s debt repaid in this financial year dollar for dollar. InfraCore is expected to pay down about $900,000 in debt and the equal amount of debt forgiveness will be absorbed by Council and will be reflected in the organisation’s end-of-year result.
Regarding Council debt, Mr Collé said Council currentl had $256m in external debt with about $21m cash on hand.
About $240m of the total debt carried by Rotorua Lakes Council relates to the council as parent with $16m relating to the CCOs, most of that sitting with the airport and $2.8m with InfraCore.
Council has mitigated pricing risks related to debt by having most of its debt fixed over a 10-year period.
The full report on this matter is on p13 of the meeting agenda
View the presentation slides related to this matter can be found HERE on Council’s website
Today’s meeting was livestreamed and you can go directly to this part of the meeting via THIS LINK on the recording of the meeting.
CCO updates
The quarterly updates of Council’s CCOs (council-controlled organisations) – Rotorua Airport Limited, Rotorua Economic Development Limited (RED) and InfraCore Limited – were on the agenda today.
While representatives from the airport were not available to present to the Committee today, representatives from RED and InfraCore presented their reports.
View the report for InfraCore on p24 of the meeting agenda, view the presentation slides HERE on Council’s website and go directly to this part of the meeting recording via THIS LINK
View the report for RED on p37 of the meeting agenda, view the presentation slides HERE on Council’s website and go directly to this part of the meeting recording via THIS LINK
View the report for Rotorua Airport on p16 of the meeting agenda